Peretz Channel Listed in Forbes Top-10 New Brands One Year After Launch

Published 4:15 AM ET Tue, 18 Dec 2012
Globe Newswire

MOSCOW, Dec. 18, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CTC Media, Inc. ("CTC Media" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:CTCM), Russia's leading independent media company, has announced that Peretz has been listed as one of the most successful new Russian brands, according to the Russian edition of Forbes magazine published on December 17, 2012. Peretz, which recently celebrated one year since its launch, was included in the rating's top 10.

The rating was based on expert assessments from top managers working at some of the largest Russian brand creation companies, including: Depot WPF, Getbrand, BrandLab, BBDO Branding, Plenum, TNC.Brands.Ads, Direct Design Visual Branding (Moscow), Coruna Branding (Saint Petersburg), "Voskhod" (Yekaterinburg), "Belye nochi" (Krasnodar). The experts selected the brands with the most memorable concept and design and greatest potential out of all the brands that have emerged approximately one year ago. Revenues and retail sales volumes also played an important role in compiling the rating. In terms of revenues, Peretz took second place.

FORBES: "The Peretz name and concept was created by the channel's Head Dmitry Troitsky. He wanted to make a light-hearted entertainment channel for adults, with comedy series, edgy shows, sketches, parodies and the like. In the year since its launch, Peretz has attracted a 2.6% share of the over-25 audience (30% more than DTV managed to acquire), and according to TNS, is now one of the ten most popular Russian TV channels. According to a survey, the brand awareness of the channel is 78%. The Head of Peretz said that the channel is mainly targeted at the male audience, but the main idea of the project is as follows: "It was important for us to be the type of rogue that women like too."

Dmitry Troitsky, Head of Peretz: "Of course it is flattering that we have only just started out and have already appeared in Forbes. On a serious note, we are pleased our hard work has not gone unnoticed and is appreciated by the market. This means that Peretz' strategy, an explosive combination of aggressive marketing and bold content decisions, proved right. In 2013, we would like to concentrate on producing our own content, to supplement the Peretz network with good-quality comedy and reality projects, to ensure that our prime time viewers get their daily dose of positivity. Laughter leads to longer life expectancy and Peretz spreads laughter."

The rating was published in the "Young but successful" article in the Russian edition of Forbes #1 for January 2013.

About Peretz

Peretz ("TV DARYAL" CJSC) started broadcasting as the "first light-hearted entertainment channel for adults" in October 2011. The channel's target audience is 25-59 year olds, while the key genres are comedy and reality TV shows. The average target audience share of the channel in 2012 leaped 30% to 2.5%. Peretz is one of the top ten most popular Russian TV channels. Famous stars including Dmitry Nagiev, Mikhail Porechenkov, Bogdan Titomir, Vladimir Vinogradov, actors Semyon Strugachev, Andrei Fedortsov and many others have all appeared in shows on the channel over the last year. Peretz was also the first channel to introduce the "from the internet to TV" idea, which adapted exclusive internet content specially for TV viewers. As a result, millions of Russians discovered why the ide fish is so important, and were also introduced to the cult online show "+100500". Peretz has conducted two large-scale ad campaigns since it was launched, both of which were resounding successes: "P-TZ Soon" and "Hold on to Peretz!". The channel's innovative approach to marketing has received a number of awards at the professional PROMAX/BDA international competition.

About CTC Media

CTC Media is a leading independent media company in Russia, with operations throughout Russia and in a number of other CIS markets. It operates three free-to-air television networks in Russia – CTC, Domashny and Peretz – as well as Channel 31 in Kazakhstan and a TV company in Moldova, with a combined potential audience of over 150 million people. The international pay-TV version of the CTC channel is available in North America, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central and South East Asia. CTC Media also has its own TV content production capabilities through its Story First Production subsidiary. The Company's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "CTCM". For more information about CTC Media, please visit www.ctcmedia.ru